Personal status laws remain a highly politicized area of debate in the Middle East, as the arena in which the contentious issues of women's rights, religion and minority groups meet. This is especially so when it comes to divorce. In Tunisia, with the moderate Islamist party Ennahda winning the first elections following the 2011 revolution, questions of religion in public life have gained greater primacy. The country is often hailed for its progressive personal status code, seen as an exception to the practice in many other Muslim countries. Polygamy is banned, for example, and in divorce cases there is gender equality. However, Tunisia's legal system contains many gaps and leaves much room for interpretation. Bearing in mind this importance of the role of Islam in judicial courts, Maaike Voorhoeve investigates whether the more progressive, and ostensibly secular, principles enshrined in Tunisia's Personal Status Code of 1956 are in fact adhered to in divorce cases. And if not, whether judges frequently turn to the Sharia, custom or societal norms as their primary sources of guidance. Through extensive research in the Tunisian courts, Voorhoeve investigates the different types of divorce, the arguments presented to the court and the consequent legal decisions made. She focuses on the role of female judges, testing the assumption that they adjudicate in a more gender-neutral way and examining the impact they have had on Tunisian legal culture and through this, Tunisian society. Gender and Divorce Law in North Africa therefore sheds light on the wide-reaching debate throughout North Africa and the Middle East concerning the role of Islam and Sharia in the public, political, legal and private spheres. This debate, which often pits secularists against Islamists, but is in reality much more nuanced, is key in a variety of fields, including Middle East studies and Islamic law.

Media and Gender Adaptation examines how fans and professionals change the gender of characters when they adapt existing work. Using research into fans, and case studies on Sherlock Holmes, Ghostbusters and Doctor Who, it illustrates the foundation of the process and ways the works engage with and critique media and gender at a political level. The default maleness of narratives in media are reworked to be inclusive of other points of view. Regendering as an adaptational technique relies on audience familiarity with existing works, however it also reveals an increasing trend in aggressive backlash against interpretations of media that include marginalised and minority communities. Combining analysis of fanfiction, television and big budget Hollywood productions, Media and Gender Adaptation also analyses fan responses to regendering in popular media. Through demographic surveys and interviews with fans, creators and broader audiences, a combination of playful and serious attitudes to gender are revealed to be part of how transformative fans (professional or not) adapt work. Specific fanfiction examples are analysed alongside professional works to reveal the depth and breadth of fannish play in regendered work and the constraints that professional adaptations are held to. It also reveals a schism in audiences, and those researching media, where the intersection of gender and race are sites of tension - nostalgia combining with expected representation of gender and race to create an aggressive defence of an original work that reiterates the mainstream hierarchies of gender and race.

Sex Differences serves as an advanced text for courses in evolutionary and human biology, psychology, and sexuality and gender studies. It also serves as a reference source for academic professionals in these disciplines. The book covers the evolution of sex and sex differences, and sex differences and sexual strategies in non-human and human animals. The final chapter addresses issues of sex and gender in interpersonal relationships, organizations and politics. Diagrams, graphs, charts, and tables illustrate key concepts; cartoons and photos provide visual breaks and an element of humor.
Key Features
* Examines sexual differences from a multi-level comparative approach
* Contains a thorough coverage of literature through 1998 and into 1999
* Illustrates pages with a generous use of cartoons, photos, figures, and diagrams
* Invites bonus learning with special interest boxes interspersed throughout text
* Presents a critical analysis
* Includes a combination of feminist and evolutionary thinking

With the growth of parental employment, leave policy is at the centre of welfare state development and at the heart of countries' child and family policies. It is widely recognised as an essential element for attaining important demographic, social and economic goals and is the point where many different policy areas intersect: child well-being, family, gender equality, employment and labour markets, and demography. Leave policy, therefore, gives a unique insight into a country's values, interests and priorities. International comparisons of leave policy are widely available, but far less attention has been paid to understanding the factors that bring about these variations. "The politics of parental leave policies" makes good this omission. Looking at parental leave policy within a wider work/family context, it addresses how and why, and by whom, particular policies are created and subsequently developed in particular countries. Chapters covering 15 countries in Europe and beyond and the European Union bring together leading academic experts to provide a unique insight into the past, present and future state of this key policy area. "The politics of parental leave policies" is essential reading for students, teachers and researchers in social policy, child and family policy, welfare states, gender relations and equality, and employment and labour markets, providing an opportunity to study in depth the creation of social policy. It will also be of interest to policy makers in national governments and international organisations.

"A wonderfully diverse array of classic and contemporary readings"
--"Contemporary Psychology APA Review of Books"

In The Gender and Psychology Reader, Blythe McVicker Clinchy and Julie K. Norem have culled through a diverse group of readings to provide a wide-ranging exploration of both progress made and problems encountered as psychologists grapple with gender. The volume includes both classic and contemporary readings, drawn from all branches of psychology-- social, developmental, personality, cognitive, history, physiological/biological--as well as from other disciplines, including sociology, philosophy, and anthropology.

The essays cover a gamut of subjects including epistemological issues, the study of difference, the embodiment of gender, autonomy and connection in relationships, and clinical implications. A concluding chapter by the editors considers themes that can be traced through the different sections, gaps in current perspectives, and future directions.

The Gender and Psychology Reader includes contributions from an array of distinguished scholars from varying methodological and disciplinary backgrounds. Among the contributors are Laurel Furumoto, Jeanne Marecek, Laura S. Brown, Anne Fausto- Sterling, Sandra Lipsitz Bem, Michelle Fine, Jospeh H. Pleck, J. G. Morawski, Daniel A. Hart, Barrie Thorne, and Aida Hurtado. Organized for easy use as either a primary or supplementary text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, The Gender and Psychology Reader will also serve as the essential reference for those in clinical practice interested in gender issues.

This book provides an overview of women's opportunities for schooling, their social activities, and the social biases they faced in rural communities in Greece, Italy and parts of the Balkans during the 19th and early 20th century. It examines such topics as female illiteracy, the efforts of women-protestant missionaries to expand knowledge through Protestantism, the prejudice against education for women, the socio-economic context, the roles women fulfilled, and the structure of the patriarchal family. The book approaches these issues from the perspective of pedagogy and social history. The fundamental questions discussed by the book are: How was female education viewed by the country folk? What was the role of women in the private and the public sphere? How did peasant women respond to the challenges of the 'modern' world? Were they free to express their feelings and ambitions? In what way? Were they happy?

I have long been awe-struck by authors' claims that their books had been in the making for 5, or 10, or even 15 years. I now have a better appreciation ofthe work involved in bringing a book to press. The seeds of this project have had a long germination. The impetus for this book began more than 10 years ago when I was a graduate student in clinical psychology. Having an interest in human sexuality-and in theories on the forms of sexual attraction specifically-I was perplexed by various perspectives on this subject. Disciplines of thought that I encountered medicine, evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, gay/lesbian theory, social constructionism, anthropology, Marxism, Christianity, and others-perceived the issue so differently, so strongly, with almost no overlap. I was fascinated that the question ofhow and why one is attracted to either one or both sexes could elicit such conviction and divergent points of view. There seemed to be no easy way to resolve these differences. Still, what frustrated me most in my readings were several conceptual problems among the two prominent proponents of contemporary sexuality theory scientists and social constructionists. One ofmy first frustrations with biomedical and social scientists who write about sexuality was that they often define sexual attraction in strict behavioral terms, as completed observable sexual acts--observable in the sense that such acts or their consequences are seen by others."

Exploring the relationship between class, sexuality and social exclusion, this is an original study of women who identify themselves as working-class and lesbian, highlighting the significance of class and sexuality in their biographies, everyday lives and identities. It provides insight into the experiences of self-identified working-class lesbians and offers a timely critique of queer theory and an empirical interrogation of the embodied, spatial and material intersection of class and sexuality.

How do views about the identities of authors influence interpretations of their works? Through close readings of texts by African American and women authors, "Minority Reports" offers a theoretical defense of the use of identity categories in American studies by examining how early American literature not only responds to the social stratification of the nineteenth century but also challenges modern historical conceptions of this era. By foregrounding the significance of early minority-authored texts to contemporary theoretical analysis, " Minority Reports" thus reconfigures traditional histories of racial, sexual, and gender identities, while it simultaneously reassesses recent paradigms for minority identity more generally.

The study of New Religious Movement (NRMs) is one of the fastest growing areas of religous studies. There are now several journals dedicated to the study of NRMs, as well as an academic association (CESNUR), in addition to a section of the American Academy of Religion devoted to NRMs. This handbook covers the current state of the field and breaks new ground. Its contributors are drawn equally from sociology and religious studies and include both established scholars and 'rising stars' in the field. The core chapters deal with such central issues as conversion, the brainwashing debate, millennialism, and modernisation. Another section deal with NRM subfields such as neopaganism, satanism, and UFO religions. The final section considers NRMs in a global perspective. This book will be indispensible resource for every scholar and student of this field.

This timely and thought-provoking collection explores the ways in which psychological science interacts with and addresses gender across varied subdisciplines in the field, from a feminist viewpoint. A particular aim of this volume is to move the conversation of gender in psychology beyond a difference-only paradigm. Veteran and emerging feminist scholars survey the handling of sex and gender issues across psychology, and describe how feminist perspectives and methodologies can and should be applied to enhance the field itself, but also in the service of social justice in the various cultures of corporations, academia, and the global stage. Contributions span theoretical advances, latest empirical findings, and real-world advocacy, with instructive and illuminating first-person accounts detailing challenges and rewards of feminist scholarship and practice in psychology. Throughout the volume, chapters document a dynamic field in its evolution from the traditional, two-dimensional study of gender-based differences to concerted multidisciplinary approaches, to cutting edge feminist theoretical and methodological advances such as intersectionality to understand gender in context. The volume is divided into three distinct sections. The first covers current theory and research in psychological science that considers gender beyond a difference-only paradigm. Then, leading feminist scholars reflect upon their own experiences in their respective subdisciplines. Finally, the third section explores innovative best practices and applications for feminist psychological science. Highlights of the coverage: * Beyond difference: Gender as a quality of social settings. * Adventures in feminist health psychology: Teaching about and conducting feminist psychological science. * Mind the thigh gap? Bringing feminist psychological science to the masses. * Feminist psychologists and institutional change in universities. With its stimulating compilation of theories, research, and applications, Feminist Perspectives On Building A Better Psychological Science of Gender is one of the most forward-thinking and innovative treatments of the field in recent years. It is a significant and important text for all psychologists, women's and gender studies specialists, social science researchers, and all those interested in using evidence-based psychological science to create a more just and equitable world.

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Gender, Identity and Reproduction draws on a variety of perspectives relevant to an understanding of reproduction across the life-course. Through a consideration of the representation of reproductive identities and experiences, the book highlights difference and diversity in relation to contemporary reproductive choices. The book focuses on women's and men's experiences of agency, control and negotiation within the context of cultural, medical, political, theoretical and lay ideologies of the reproductive process in contemporary Western societies.

"Maintenance, Meed, and Marriage in Medieval English Literature "deftly interrogates the relationship between lord and man in medieval England. Employing the study of medieval analogies this book""is the first to explore how the relationship between lords and retainers was depicted in literature by Chaucer, Gower, Langland, and Lydgate. Kennedy uses close readings and medieval letter collections to provide a documentary look at how lords and men communicated information about their relationships and reveals surprising information about both medieval law and society.

Since the 1990 publication of Gender Trouble, Judith Butler has had a profound influence on how we understand gender and sexuality, corporeal politics, and political action both within and outside the academy. This collection, which considers not only Gender Trouble but also Bodies That Matter, Excitable Speech, and The Psychic Life of Power, attests to the enormous impact Butler's work has had across disciplines. In analyzing Butler's theories, the contributors demonstrate their relevance to a wide range of topics and fields, including activism, archaeology, film, literature, pedagogy, and theory. Included is a two-part interview with Judith Butler herself, in which she responds to questions about queer theory, the relationship between her work and that of other gender theorists, and the political impact of her ideas. In addition to the editors, contributors include Edwina Barvosa-Carter, Robert Alan Brookey, Kirsten Campbell, Angela Failler, Belinda Johnston, Rosemary A. Joyce, Vicki Kirby, Diane Helene Miller, Mena Mitrano, Elizabeth M. Perry, Frederick S. Roden, and Natalie Wilson.

Presently, doctors and psychiatrists are professing their inability to develop theoretical approaches that lead to effective clinical methods to help women suffering from eating disorders. Michelle Lelwica puts forward a hypothesis that has both theoritical and clinical implications. She identifies eating disorders as a specifically religious problem and contends that it can be addressed with religious resources. She argues that the remnants of religious legacies that have historically effaced the diversity and complexity of women's spiritual yearnings and struggles are alive and well under the guise of a host of "secular" practices, pictures and promises. Until these legacies are recognized, contested, and changed, she predicts, many girls and women will continue to turn to the symbolic and ritual resources most readily available to them --- food and their bodies --- in a passionate but precarious quest for freedom and fulfilment.

Why are young women today deeply unhappy with their own bodies? Why do even young girls inflict serious harm to themselves by dangerous patterns of bingeing and dieting? Drawing on a wide source of feminist perspectives this book examines this epidemic of body-hatred.

"Reading 'Bollywood' "explores the connections between representations of gender, sexuality and ethnicity in Hindi films, socio-political contexts and the construction of gender, sexual and ethnic identity by young audience members in India and the UK. Extended excerpts from in-depth interviews with young viewers, observations and original photographs provide exciting and unique insights about spectatorship as well as material for comparison with theories about Hindi film and studies of film audiences and popular culture worldwide.

Revealing the shocking and detailed accounts of how adult women stalk, sexually assault, and even rape adult men, this book portrays an eye-opening reality: women can act as aggressive predators and victimize men. Crimes of a sexual nature perpetrated by adult females against males constitute a serious problem in our society. A woman can rape a man, and this crime occurs far more often than most imagine. This book addresses an entire range of crimes beyond rape, however; stalking, sexual harassment, and sexual assault are all covered in detail. When Women Sexually Abuse Men: The Hidden Side of Rape, Stalking, Harassment, and Sexual Assault illuminates the long-overlooked subject of adult female against adult male sex crimes. Combining personal accounts, information on criminal cases, relevant research on adult female against adult male sexual offenses, and statistical data from the FBI and other government sources, the authors comprehensively document how some women can be aggressive sexual predators, just like their male counterparts; highlight the changes in the criminal behavior of women; and provide fascinating stories of true crime as well as shocking revelations about human behavior. Details the rape trials of two women as well as other personal accounts and interviews Utilizes careful analysis of research to determine the extent of this crime by adult women against adult men Addresses a range of actions in which adult women sexually abuse or assault adult men, and offers advice and counsel to these victims Provides surprising information that will be of value to law enforcement and corrections practitioners, social workers, business administrators, human resources personnel, academics in the fields of sociology, psychology, gender issues, and criminology, as well as general readers

This is the first book that draws together the main current methodological approaches to the study of language and gender. Approaches include Sociolinguistics, Conversation analysis, Corpus linguistics, Critical discourse analysis, Feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis, Discursive psychology and Queer theory.

At a time when social commentators are increasingly likely to assert the "death of class" as a source of social inequality and conflict, this far-reaching volume reasserts the significance of class and gender for understanding socioeconomic conditions. Rather than declining in importance, class and gender processes are being transformed by social and economic changes associated with postindustrialism, including the entrance of women into the labor market in ever greater numbers, a shift from manufacturing to services, and the rise of part-time employment.
Moving away from the narrowly focused debates that have characterized much recent class analysis, the contributors to this book urge a nuanced approach that focuses on the specific institutional contexts of class-gender relations in various advanced industrial nations. Class and gender relationships in each country are contextually embedded, they argue, in such issues as the differences in welfare-state regimes, the varying availability of flexible forms of employment, and the degree to which the labor market is politically regulated.
The essays analyze the class and gender bases of economic inequality in ways that are sensitive to nationally specific institutional conditions. Two introductory chapters set the terms of the theoretical analysis and provide a framework for thinking about the relationships between gender and class. The remaining chapters offer comparative, cross-national analyses that investigate empirical examples of the links between class and gender relations, including the changing gender composition of the middle class, gender differences in access to managerial positions, the social ramifications of flexible employment arrangements, the links between paid and unpaid work, and the increasing feminization of poverty.
The contributors include Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund, Wallace Clement, Rosemary Crompton, Paula England, Siv Overas, Rachel Rosenfeld, and Erik Olin Wright.

This book is an ethnography of teachers and children in grades 1 and 2, and presents arguments about why we should take gender and childhood sexuality seriously in the early years of South African primary schooling. Taking issue with dominant discourses which assumes children's lack of agency, the book questions the epistemological foundations of childhood discourses that produce innocence. It examines the paradox between teachers' dominant narratives of childhood innocence and children's own conceptualisation of gender and sexuality inside the classroom, with peers, in heterosexual games, in the playground and through boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. It examines the nuances and finely situated experiences which draw attention to hegemonic masculinity and femininity where boys and girls challenge and contest relations of power. The book focuses on the early makings of gender and sexual harassment and shows how violent gender relations are manifest even amongst very young boys and girls. Attention is given to the interconnections with race, class, structural inequalities, as well as the actions of boys and girls as navigate gender and sexuality at school. The book argues that the early years of primary schooling are a key site for the production and reproduction of gender and sexuality. Gender reform strategies are vital in this sector of schooling.

Romantic relationships are hard enough, but sustaining a stimulating and satisfying romantic relationship can be even more challenging if one partner has Attention Deficit Disorder. This text discusses the neurobiological origins of A.D.D and stresses that frustrating A.D.D behaviours, which are neither conscious nor intentional, can be greatly reduced with the help of medication and therapy. A.D.D can influence vital aspects of one's romantic life, such as intimacy and communication. It examines how medication might positively or negatively affect sexual performance and pleasure. Using case studies, the author explores common problems couples encounter in their A.D.D relationship, including diagnosis of partner's A.D.D, techniques for coping with A.D.D while nurturing a relationship, recognition of unrealistic romantic expectations, and identification of a negative relationship.

Moving beyond the preoccupation of honour and its associations with violence and sexual reputation, Courtney Thomas offers an intriguing investigation of honour's social meanings amongst early modern elites in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. If I Lose Mine Honour I Lose Myself reveals honour's complex role as a representational strategy amongst the aristocracy. Thomas' erudite and detailed investigation of multi-generational family papers as well as legal records and prescriptive sources develops a fuller picture of how the concept of honour was employed, often in contradictory ways in daily life. Whether considering economic matters, marriage arrangements, supervision of servants, household management, mediation, or political engagement, Thomas argues that while honour was invoked as a structuring principle of social life its meanings were diffuse and varied. Paradoxically, it is the malleability of honour that made it such an enduring social value with very real meaning for early modern men and women.

Jewish and Islamic histories have long been interrelated. Both traditions emerged from ancient cultures born in the Middle East and both are rooted in texts and traditions that have often excluded women. At the same time, both groups have recently seen a resurgence in religious orthodoxy among women, as well as growing feminist movements that challenge traditional religious structures. In the United States, Jews and Muslims operate as minority cultures, carving out a place for religious and ethnic distinctiveness. The time is ripe for a volume that explores the relationship between these two religions through the prism of gender. Gender in Judaism and Islam brings together scholars working in the fields of Judaism and Islam to address a diverse range of topics, including gendered readings of texts, legal issues in marriage and divorce, ritual practices, and women's literary expressions and historical experiences, along with feminist influences within the Muslim and Jewish communities and issues affecting Jewish and Muslim women in contemporary society. Carefully crafted, including section introductions by the editors to highlight big picture insights offered by the contributors, the volume focuses attention on the theoretical innovations that gender scholarship has brought to the study of Muslim and Jewish experiences. At a time when Judaism and Islam are often discussed as though they were inherently at odds, this book offers a much-needed reconsideration of the connections and commonalties between these two traditions. It offers new insights into each of these cultures and invites comparative perspectives that deepen our understanding of both Islam and Judaism.